Two years ago, Andile Phehlukwayo sat on the 27th floor of a Bangalore 5-star hotel, soaking in his first taste of big-time, senior cricket.
The night before, he had played against the Chennai SuperKings, in a packed M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and he was still buzzing.
At just 18, he had been a surprise, late inclusion in the Dolphins’ Champions League squad, picked more for the future than the furore of that tournament.
Former coach Lance “Zulu” Klusener, who admits that he saw glimpses of himself as a youngster in the now 20-year-old, had insisted that the Glenwood product be taken along to India, because a taste of cricket in that atmosphere would pay dividends down the line.
This week, the Dolphins all-rounder was named in the SA ODI squad to take on Ireland and Australia at month’s end. He may not see too much game time, but that was the same thought when he went to India as a Dolphins’ new pup.
“I can’t believe I am sitting here. This hotel room is as big as our house back home,” the astonished teenager beamed at the time, well aware of how far his familiarity with the game had taken him already.
“I was bowling to Suresh Raina one minute, then you look at the batting list, and there is (Dwayne) Bravo, Faf (Du Plessis) and Dhoni to come. It’s crazy!”
The Bravos, Rainas and Dhonis will soon be international foes, while Du Plessis is now a teammate. It can happen that quickly.
Starstruck as he was then, Phehlukwayo, had already showed glimpses of the talent that former scout, Linda Zondi (current national convenor of selectors) had spotted early on, and those skills took him to Glenwood to add significant gloss to his rough diamond abilities.
The year 2014 was actually Phehlukwayo’s matric year, but he spent most of it around the world, travelling to the triumphant under-19 World Cup in Dubai, where he played only a bit-part, and then that Champions League bow.
He was juggling final exams with crunch games, and only finished off Grade 12 in early 2015.
The die had been cast by then; the powerful left-hander only had one future, and it involved bats and balls. Klusener, himself a left-handed, lower middle-order bludgeoner with the bat, and clever operator with the ball, was the perfect franchise coach for Phehlukwayo to start his career with.
“He pushed me, man. He was always challenging me."
That most of those conversations were in Zulu only added to the familiarity. Klusener demanded more of his protégé because he could sense there was something special there.
“The one thing he always said to me was that I had to be there at the end. Batting at seven or eight, in one-day games, you had to be the finisher. The same with the ball. He gave me the death overs as much as possible, and backed me.
“He said that, win or lose, the more you were in those positions as a player, the better it was for you as a person, because the experience alone was great. At that stage, it is do or die, and if you can control yourself then, you will do well,” he said.Inevitably,
Phehlukwayo’s meteoric rise to the Proteas’ squad has been met with political suspicion in some quarters, but one of his biggest cheerleaders is, funnily enough, Kevin Pietersen.
The former England star batsman spent a lot of time with Phehlukwayo during his recent stint in the domestic T20 campaign, and he was impressed by what he saw.Pietersen lived for the big moments, and quickly saw that Phehlukwayo was cut from the same cloth.
He noted privately that the youngster “wasn’t scared of the big plays”, and that attitude would give him a massive future in white-ball cricket.Pietersen and Phehlukwayo – which has the ring of a construction firm of the future – were in cahoots all through the Dolphins’ heist of the Ram Slam play-off against the Cobras last term, with Phehlukwayo defending a handful of runs at Kingsmead, to the giddy delight of Pietersen and the rest of the team.
Yorker after yorker hit the mark, and after the Cobras imploded, the Dolphins celebrated into the early hours in the change-room, realising that they had triumphed in a game they had no right winning.
Phehlukwayo saluted the sage words of Pietersen, Klusener and Bravo this past week, as well as the rest of his teammates at the Dolphins. They have all shaped his remarkable progress over the last two years, encouraging him and giving him responsibility beyond his CV.For a long time, South African cricket was blessed with all-rounders, with the national team often batting to nine, with plenty of bowling options to boot.
Phehlukwayo is seen as someone in that throwback mould, an explosive batsmen who can clear the ropes, and also a bowler whose skills and pace off the deck are improving all the time.
“It was a really good winter Academy, and then going to Australia with the A side was another good experience. We played with a lot of guys who have played international cricket, or have just been chosen to play for India and Australia soon.
"It may be sooner than some expected him to graduate to the top, but Phehlukwayo’s career has been in a hurry ever since he skipped exams to go to India for the Champions League. Like his under-19 World Cup winning buddy, Kagiso Rabada, all he wants to do is play cricket.There was a time when a “Zulu” all-rounder took the Proteas to the brink of the world crown. Fast forward two decades, and it may well be another Zulu playing out the big moments for them.
– The Sunday Independent